The Coupeville boys basketball team wrapped up an undefeated home season with a 61-49 victory over LaConner on Friday night.
The fired-up Wolves played outstanding defense in the opening period, giving up LaConner’s first and only bucket of the quarter with just 32 seconds remaining.
“Different kids really stepped up tonight,” said head coach Randy King. “We played a great first half and then it was typical LaConner – hoping that they would go away. All the kids played great tonight and I think the team really wants to go undefeated in league.”
Last night the Wolves played their final game of the regular season at Archbishop Murphy (results will be published in Saturday’s edition of the News-Times). With a win against the Wildcats, Coupeville would finish undefeated in Northwest A League play.
“We have to continue to play hard,” said the Wolves’ leading scorer on the season, senior Chris Good. “We want to beat Archbishop so we can go undefeated. No reason not to. Winning league was our goal at the beginning of the year – why not win them all?”
Junior Casey Clark paced the Wolves with 21 points on Friday, including several clutch shots when LaConner was trying to get back into the game. At one point in the second half the Braves narrowed the Wolves lead to six but Clark nailed a huge three. The next time down the court he bagged a deuce and the lead was back to 11.
“Casey was something else tonight,” said King about the play of his 5-foot-8 guard.
Good collected 14 points, eight boards and three steals on the evening despite spending most of the second half in foul trouble.
“LaConner was physical,” said Good. “They are young but they’ll be a good team in a few years. They and the ref’s took me out of the game.”
With big men Good, Sean Callahan, and Geoff Hageman plagued by foul trouble, the Wolves used their depth to fill the void. 6-foot-6 senior Brian Roundy entered and scored all six of his points in the final quarter.
“How about that, Brian played really well,” said King. “I’m really pleased for him. You never know who is going to step up on any given night.”
At the end Coupeville secured the win behind the play of Clark and fellow junior Brad Sherman, who combined for 31 points. The duo’s quickness proved to be too much for the Braves to overcome.
With the league title wrapped up last Tuesday after a win at Orcas, Coupeville could have came out soft against LaConner, but that wasn’t the case. The Braves hung around but the Wolves focussed on getting the win.
“This game was a little scary,” said senior guard Jim Meek. “Winning the league title was awesome. It capped off a great season.”
The Wolves have to wait over a week for their next contest. Holding the No. 1 seed from the Northwest League, the team will next play on Feb. 14 at the tri-district tournament. At that point their will be eight teams remaining in the tourney, and of the eight, six will move on to the Class 1A State Tournament. If the Wolves can win one of their first two contests they are assured of a trip to Yakima.
“We want to get the first win at districts so we can get to State as quickly as possible,” said Good. “We don’t want to have to leave anything to chance.”
King reflected one last time after the game about the 10 departing seniors who were honored before the game.
“To have this kind of success takes a tremendous commitment. Not just from the kids but their parents as well. I’m just really proud of this team.”
Coupeville 61, LaConner 49
At Coupeville H.S.
LaConner – 2 16 17 14 – 49
Coupeville – 14 18 11 18 – 61
LaConner: Stephens 8, Hinton 5, Keele 3, Edwards 12, Dan 9, Cartmill 2, Hagen 10. Coupeville: Clark 21, Sherman 10, Fasolo 1, Meek 2, Roundy 6, Hageman 7, Good 14. 3-point goals: Stephens 2, Edwards 1, Clark 3. JV score: Coupeville 55, LaConner 39. Records: Coupeville 9-0 in league, 15-4 overall. LaConner 4-5, 8-10.
